Love Bites, “Firsts” (1.01)

I caught the pilot of the show, starring the wonderful Becki Newton, while watching television with my aunt the other night. A review of the pilot, written by Cindy Chupack and directed by Marc Buckland, after the jump…

Because anthologies, particularly romantic anthologies, feature stories that are so short and must still stand alone, casting is key. Love Bites gets that right, offering up a handful of recognisable faces who are perfectly charming here. The entire show, in fact, is really charming, and it’s a shame that it won’t get much of a chance to succeed. Originally a high profile series, it was beset by production troubles – losing one of their leads (Jordana Spiro, replaced by Krysten Ritter here), having the remaining romantic lead become pregnant, losing its showrunner

At least at the pilot stage, though, the show really has come back well. Krysten Ritter is utterly charming in what was turned into a guest role, and the show managed to have Newton‘s pregnancy be a reality in the show and actually add potential for jokes, and play into the story in a cute way. And the other two stories – about a man who is replaced both at work and in bed by mechanical superiors, and series regular Judd (Greg Grunberg) having a run-in with the one celebrity from his marriage’s celebrity exemption list, Jennifer Love Hewitt – were also really cute, and ended with happy endings. Though I love dark series, it was refreshing and sit down to watch three little romantic stories that ended well.

Love Bites is fluff, but it’s good fluff, and it’s a shame there’s not much chance of a second season. I expect I’ll still watch the remaining eight episodes, likely when there’s a rainy day and I just want to curl up on the couch and smile.